


A Quiet Night on Peacemillion

by boxofhatebrains



Category: Gundam Wing
Genre: Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Insecurity, Peacemillion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-05
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-18 23:56:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29866032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/boxofhatebrains/pseuds/boxofhatebrains
Summary: Quatre and Duo deepen their friendship while on Peacemillion.
Relationships: quatre - Relationship
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	A Quiet Night on Peacemillion

Quatre stared at the table, or really, more through the table in the mess hall. Duo didn’t mean to be so quiet, but suppressed a chuckle when Quatre startled at Duo’s touch on his back.

“Hey, buddy, you gonna eat those chips or are you divining something from them?” He joked, and squeezed Quatre’s shoulder.

Honestly, it was just a casual touch, but Quatre realized how long it had been casually touched like this. It had been isolating, so isolating, the last few months of fighting. It reminded him when they spent time in the Middle East together in the Winner stronghold and how much of a relief that had been at the time. Just having someone there with him. Someone who was like him. 

He knew he was fortunate to be doted on by others all his life - by sisters, the employees of his father who dressed him or fussed on him, and the Maganacs. He missed the Maganacs...They would gently scruff his hair, or give a comforting squeeze of the arm. He had lived in multiple languages of touch before this last year and how detached he felt from that language was even more pronounced in times like these.

He remembered how happy he had been to see Heero again, and even Wufei, stopping himself from hugging them. He knew it wouldn’t be well-received. He acutely recalled the time in Sanc when he held Heero out of grief and was carefully, but brusquely, pushed away. He knew it wasn’t rejection of himself, but it still stung. It wasn’t Heero’s language. Wasn’t Trowa’s or Wufei’s language…

_But Duo…_

Tired and weary, he swept away the potato crisps and leaned his head and arms against the table, and focused on that warmth from Duo’s touch.

“You goin to sleep on me?” Duo joked, but his tone softened, “You wanna talk about it?”

No. No he didn’t. He just wanted to soak up that warmth and kindness like a sponge, completely full and heavy with Duo’s easy geniality. He needed that. He needed someone else. 

“No,” he whispered against the table, “It’s just…It’s nice.”

Chuckling, Duo squeezed his shoulder, and then his other hand was on the other side, balanced, as he massaged Quatre’s muscles. It wasn’t a real massage, more friendly than practical, but it was so grounding. Quatre focused on his breathing and the pressure of Duo’s calloused fingers against his shirt, kneading the curves and angles of his neck and back.

“Any more than this and I’ll have to charge,” Duo joked; very nearly joked about an hourly rate, about a happy ending, but didn’t want Quatre to feel awkward. There was something about Quatre that he didn’t want to even think of tarnishing.

“Thank you,” Quatre said and meant it.

Duo took a seat opposite him and waited for Quatre to lift his head. When Quatre didn’t, he prompted, “Seriously, anything you want to talk about?”

Finally, the blonde head lift slightly, met Duo’s eyes and wearily smiled. “I've missed you.”

Duo laughed with genuine surprise. “Well, yeah, I’m a pretty miss-able guy.”

“It’s been hard…These last past months…With my father, with Zero…and Trowa not remembering me. I thought I knew everything when I started this…when I defied Operation Meteor, but…”

“Yeah, nothing like you thought it’d be, huh?”

“I never thought any of this would happen. I knew there would be obstacles. I knew I was ready to give my life for the colonies…But…”

Duo stretched against the table, also leaned against his arms with his chin lightly resting on the table. But still watched Quatre. He found it funny, actually. Quatre was completely right. When he first started, he never expected others like himself. He never even expected a friendship with Quatre. Quatre was the type of guy he usually hated, in fact. Rich, potent, and power-wielding. Posh. Bougie. _Innocent._ Like the kids in that boarding school. Filled to the goddamn brim with ideals force-fed to them by prestigious old bags, but never had a walk outside, so to speak.

So, it was funny to him when he was compelled to reach across the table and give Quatre’s wrist a little encouraging squeeze. There was no way without the gundams they ever would have met. No way that Quatre would have looked his way. No way that he would have given Quatre the benefit of the doubt.

And suddenly there he was, worried and scared for, and with, Quatre.

Equals.

Friends.

“Yeah,” Duo agreed, playfully tapping his fingers against Quatre’s wrist, “I don’t think I even knew _what_ to expect. You know…I wasn’t even supposed to have Deathscythe. I was trying to destroy it after I found out the wacko plan…I guess I’m glad I didn’t. I kinda like it now.”

Quatre shared his smile.

“I wonder,” Quatre quietly murmured into his arms, “What happens if we lose?”

“I don’t think about it much,” Duo answered just as quiet, but with a stubborn smile, “Now that we’re all together, working together…I actually think we have a good shot. We should have done this a long time ago…I think I get that now. Guess I’m stubborn.”

Quatre's smile turned wistful, “Honestly, ever since the New Edwards base, I’ve been wishing for this – for unity. As soon as I saw all of us…I knew we had to fight together.”

“Guess you’re less stubborn.” Duo’s smile brimmed over, teeth showing slightly.

“And what happens if we win?” Quatre concluded his thought.

“A party? Maybe a couple,” Duo joked, fingers curled against the table but still lightly touching Quatre’s wrist at the knuckle.

“Seriously. We can’t keep the gundams if we win. But…will it even be enough? I always feel like there will be someone waiting in the wings to push for another war. Either space or Earth…And even if we can get peace…then what?”

“You have a lot of questions.”

“Always,” Quatre said, his smile folding into something more genuine. “I like trying to figure out what I’m getting into.”

“Sounds like you’re getting too much into your head.”

“Yeah…”

There was a moment of stillness, but then Quatre turned his hand, was now the one to reach to Duo and touch the skin of his rough knuckles. There were slight scars there, on the skin, and Quatre traced them with his short fingernails. The act was almost too personal for Duo, but he allowed it.

Duo wanted to ask something, maybe needed to ask this. He wanted to know where he stood and maybe it wasn’t the best timing, but he didn’t know when they would be like this again, soft and alone like this.

“If we actually manage to pull this off and survive this…” He kept his eyes on Quatre’s smile. “Do you think you and me will still talk? Like, after all this?”

The smile remained but was curious. Quatre’s brows knitted together. “Like, about the war?”

“Nah, I mean,” Duo tried to clarify, suddenly feeling a little silly, a little ashamed, “Like, will you and me still talk? Just…casually, you know?”

“ _Will we still be friends_? Is that what you mean?” Quatre picked up on the words unsaid and translated them for Duo.

“Yeah,” he tried to sound nonchalant but wasn’t sure if he managed it. Even if Quatre said yes, he doubted how much he’d believe it. He was tired of people’s hypocrisies.

But then Quatre’s hand was fully on his, the warmth there, same with his smile.

“I hope so, Duo. I really do. I’m going to need you in my life. To keep me level. Keep me sane. Remind me of who I really am…I want to be your friend for as long as you’ll have me.”

There was a joke in Duo’s chest bubbling up, about how it sounded like a proposal, about how he’d make for miserable company, about the god of death, but the moment was too precious for any half-hearted defense mechanism. He kept his mouth quiet.

“I really missed you,” Quatre said for the second time, and Duo didn’t mind it. He could have heard it a few more times, in fact, because it sounded real and unrehearsed. He wanted to be missed. He wanted people in his life who recognized his absence and felt something about it. He wanted that life where he could still stop by on Quatre without announcement and be greeted with a delighted smile and enthusiastic hug, just like before. He wanted a life where he could call Quatre about all the stupid little details of his life, and be missed.

“Let’s make it out of here alive if we can,” he said, feeling the beat of his breath bounce back from the table. 

“That’s the plan,” Quatre wearily agreed.


End file.
